In a game that was suspended in the bottom of the second inning one night earlier due to rain, the Panther Valley Black Diamonds were able to fight back from an early deficit to defeat Forks Township, 10-5, in the first round of the Keystone Senior Babe Ruth playoffs on Wednesday.

Both teams had one big inning with Forks Township having its offensive breakout in the second inning before the rains came on Tuesday. The Falcons scored five runs on four hits with two big errors helping Forks out big time. A ball that got away from the catcher on a throw home and then an errandt throw to center field started the carousel of runs for the Falcons."We made some mistakes Tuesday that helped them score some runs and of course when you come back the next day you're hoping the kids can shake that off," said Panther Valley coach Rich Evanko. "I think us having runners on second and third from the day before with one out gave us a nice advantage. Our guys did a good job of swinging the bat and we were able to gain the lead heading into the fourth."As Evanko stated, the Black Diamonds literally stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the second inning when play resumed on Wednesday. They were able to come away with six runs in the frame with Teague Schmidt knocking in two runs, while Michael Hutt and Jake Kusko added an RBI apiece. The big inning gave PV an 8-5 advantage, heading into the third.After the Black Diamonds' big inning staked them to the lead, pitcher Anthony Micholik made sure they retained it.Micholik was absolutely dominant, tossing five scoreless innings, giving up just three hits. Micholik was working both sides of the plate mixing in a solid curveball with an even better fastball."I felt really good today and I really had my fastball working," said Micholik. "I knew I had to come out here and pitch well because they really took it to us the day before. I just tried to locate my fastball today and use my curve to keep them off balance and it all turned out well."Panther Valley tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning to give it even more insurance. Frank Nietz started the sixth with a triple to deep center field and Matt Hudicka followed with an RBI single. Hudicka stole second and then scored on a Forks Township error on a ball hit by Schmidt.The win for Panther Valley was a nice one especially after a long layoff from competiton."We were off for almost two weeks and to come out here after our game being suspended and rally like we did is exactly the confidence builder we needed," said Evanko. "The way we attacked the pitcher today is the way we need to continue to play. I hope this can carry over to our next ball game because we can be a tough team to beat when we swing the bats with confidence."The Black Diamonds will now head to East Stroudsburg today for a semifinal matchup with the second-seeded Mustangs.The winner will advance to the Keystone Senior Babe Ruth Championship series next week.Forks Twp. 050 000 0 - 5 7 3Panther Vy. 260 002 x - 10 10 3Juan, Schaming, and Cicaleso (5); Stano, Micholik (3), and Schmidt. W - Micholik L - Juan.